Off Course-On Target

Hearing the Future? The YouTube Piano | Click and Play!

via www.youtube.com

*  see also this earlier version using an image of a keyboard rather than video

What caught my eye (ear?) was not so much the on screen piano this provides but the clever use, or more correctly re-use and re-purposing of video and timelines.  This piano example by itself is a bit of a novelty and one which wears of soon.  However, start to imagine how you could use this for other applications? Think about a new level of interactivity that anyone can add to any of the increasing volume of video that is being posted and a new way of creating and re-using/re-purposing video content. Try using this on a touch enabled screen such as your iPhone or Android.

Perhaps it helps to think of this along the lines of "scanning" rather than needing to recreate from scratch, to almost instantly capture that which already exists and use this as the raw components to create whatever YOU have in mind. 

As the fidelity of audio and video continues to increase the gap between real/original and simulated/recorded lessens to the point of being indistinguishable.

For me, this is yet another example of how we are transforming from consumers to creators and to a society of "ProSumers" the likes of which McLuhan, Nevitt and the Tofflers so presciently described back in the 70's.  And of course I also see this as more examples of how we are also becoming a society of "Tearners" (Teacher/Learners)  

Give this video piano example a try and see if you start to hear the future as you play?

Avatars R'us? DIY Structured Light 3D Scanning | VizWorld.com

The 3D scanning effect that brought us radiohead’s “House of Cards” video is now within the realm of us mere mortals thanks to the work of Kyle McDonald.  In a new project on Instructables, he shows how to connect a projector and 3 cameras together to great a great low-cost 3D scanner.

You’ll need a camera, a projector, and some open source software to process the image data. Using these simple tools, [Kyle] turned out much better video than before. Take a look after the break to see his results from scanning at 60 fps using a PS3 Eye. The trick to this setup is getting the correct synchronization between the projector and the camera, something that could be improved with a bit of extra hacking.

via www.vizworld.com

3D Capture at 60fps from Kyle McDonald on Vimeo.

Very much worth watching this chunky video* (above) on how 3D scanning is entering the DIY (Do It Yourself) domain.

• Note the cool new "drag to share" tab in the top left corner if you've not seen it before

Talk about mass personalization and The Snowflake Effect!  Suddenly you can have an avatar which really IS you!  Right now.  With what you probably have on your desk.

Want to get started?  Here are the full instructions on the Instructables site.**

• If you've not done so already be sure to check out the Instructables site itself for a great example of DIY learning content.

And think about the implications and applications for learning, education and training.

Every day we get closer to the singularity where the real and the simulated/virtual/digital become indistinguisable or one and the same.

If you're not equal parts fascinated and frightened I don't think you're paying attention! Let's resolve the frightened part by guiding this in the right directions by using it for great results.

School of What if the Impossible Isn't?

Singularity University

Ted Greenwald is Tweeting from SU (http://twitter.com/tedgreenwald) using the hashtag #singularityu. Photos courtesy of Singularity University.

via www.wired.com

See this article for a great set of things to add to my "What if the Impossible Isn't?" list. You may also enjoy, as I did, reading more about the recently started Singularity University and this blogging account by one recent attendee.

3D Printing Your Own Body Parts

I received a lot of comments about my previous posting on the up and coming application of 3D printing to build new human organs. Here is another article on treehugger.com with more details and video.

Kinko's for Kidneys: 3D Printing Your Own Body Parts

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12.22.09

3D printing to order is a regular subject on TreeHugger; we love the idea of making things when you need them, where you need them. And soon you will be able to order up body parts, at a sort of Ponoko for pancreas. Now people sit on waiting lists, hooked up to expensive equipment while they wait for donors and fly body parts all over the world; soon you will order them up fresh and hot. Perhaps, like Philip K. Dick did, we might even call them artif-orgs.

There is some good explanation of the technique in this posting on SmartPlanet.

This stuff easily makes it onto my "What if the Impossible Isn't?" list for the year!

All of this adds to my conviction that the big change required to make the most difference in the world is to check and change our historic baselines and assumptions.  To switch from thinking that we need to plan within the constraints of what we think is possible and increasingly design and strategize with the assumption that most anything IS possible, or soon will be.  We need to be more imaginative, more creative, more demanding than ever in the increasingly unconstrained world of abundance which more and more of us are privileged to live within.

Think about it.  What if the impossible isn't?  What, if it were possible, and would have the most positive and profound affect on your profession, your world?  What will you do when it is possible?  Are you ready?

-- Wayne